Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday moved into his new official residence complex, said to be the biggest and expensive residence of any Chief Minister in the country, at Begumpet in Hyderabad.
Rao and his wife Shobha performed the 'Griha Pravesam' at 5.22 am. As part of the house warming ceremony, the couple performed "Daiva Pravesam", "Yati Pravesam", "Go pravesam" and "Pravesam" (formally entering) ceremonies as per the holy scriptures.
Other rituals included 'Vasthu Puja', 'Sudarshana Yagam' and 'Purnahuti'.
Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ESL Narasimhan and his wife Vimala Narasimhan were also present to grace the occasion
Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker S Madhusudanachary, Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, state IT and Municipal Administration Minister and Rao's son KT Rama Rao, Nizamabad MP K Kavitha, who is Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter, and state irrigation minister T Harish Rao were among those present on the occasion.
Religious guru Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamy was also present.
The government has named the buildings complex -- two existing buildings being used by the Chief Minister, the newly-built CM residence, office and a conference hall -- as 'Pragati Bhavan'.
The conference hall has been named as 'Janahita'. The Chief Minister would interact with different sections of society, including farmers, workers, employees, and artisans, on the formulation of policies and their implementation in 'Janahita'.
Some media reports said the sprawling new residence, with state-of-the-art facilities, has come up over one lakh square feet space.
The reports said that due to security reasons, "bullet-proof" bathrooms have been constructed in the house.
A government statement had earlier said the new residence had been planned as the Chief Minister's camp office and residence did not have adequate facilities for parking and holding large meetings.
The housing complex has been built by Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji, the real estate major owned by the family of ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry.
Soon after forming the first government in newly created Telangana state in 2014, KCR had started work on the new residence.
A firm believer in "vaastu", KCR had reluctantly moved into the existing camp office after removing avaastu defects`.
The "vaastu" advisors of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief had advised him against occupying the existing camp office built in 2004 by then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy at a cost of Rs 8.10 crore.
KCR considered the building "inauspicious" as Rajasekhara Reddy had reportedly moved in without performing rituals and he died in a helicopter crash a few months after returning to power in 2009. His successor K Roshaiah also could not complete the term while Kiran Kumar Reddy faced a turbulent time as the last chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
The Telangana CM had been using only residential part of the complex both as residence and office but never used the camp office.
KCR, however, is facing flak from the opposition for building a new residence, thus burdening the public exchequer.
Opposition Congress party leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said KCR was doing a Nero. He said the CM moved into a five-star bungalow with bullet-proof toilet and bedrooms at a time when people were suffering due to demonetisation of high-value currency notes.
Shabbir, who is the leader of Opposition in state Legislative Assembly, said KCR moved into the posh new house while his poll promise to build 2.6 lakh double-bed room houses for poor remained unfulfilled.
Activists of Telugu Nadu Students Federation (TNSF), the youth wing of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), tried to lay siege to the new residence of KCR as a mark of protest.
Police arrested the TNSF activists who raised slogans against the Chief Minister.
The protestors said the government had no money to pay towards arrears for the reimbursement of students' fee but spent huge money on the new residence.
(With Agency inputs)
